Abstract

Although the Magnus type wind turbine has many benefits over conventional blade-type wind turbines, it normally has low wind energy utilization efficiency. Therefore, it is important to seek effective ways of improving the Magnus wind turbine power performance in order to promote its application. As blade aspect ratio is a critical parameter influencing the Magnus wind turbine performance, a 3D numerical study of a Magnus type wind turbine which is equipped with cylindrical blades with different aspect ratios has been conducted in this paper. In addition, various cylinder shapes, including truncated cone and wavy cylinder, have also been used and their effects on the performance of the Magnus wind turbine are analyzed. Performance characteristics such as power, torque, and thrust coefficients of the Magnus turbine with different blade shapes are compared and discussed with the aim of identifying the desirable blade characteristics for this type of turbine.

Received 29 September 2012Accepted 26 November 2012Published online 11 December 2012

Acknowledgments:

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50836006 and 11202123), Shanghai Pujiang programme (No. 11TJC010), and Shanghai Program for Innovative Research Team in Universities.

Article outline:I. INTRODUCTIONII. NUMERICAL MODEL ESTABLISHMENTA. Evaluation of accuracy of numerical modelB. 3D numerical simulation of a Magnus wind turbineIII. NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSA. The performance parameters of interestB. Influence of the blade shape on the power coefficient of a Magnus turbineC. Influence of the blade shape on the torque coefficient of a Magnus turbineD. Influence of the blade shape on the thrust coefficient of a Magnus turbineE. The effect of rotating cylinder on Magnus turbine controlIV. CONCLUSIONS